Montage-a-google is a simple web-app that uses Google's image search to generate a large montage of images based on keywords (search terms) entered by YOU. I tested it out with my name and an interesting montage was born.(ht to Marko)

This evening I received a mass email which contained the following message:

"I really don't watch these awards, but I did goggle the name of Kathy Griffin and this is a true statement that she made..We need to lift her up in prayer.

Please read and pass on to everyone you know!

At the Emmy awards, Kathy Griffin's acceptance speech said, "A lot of people come up here and thank Jesus for this award. I want you to know that no one had less to do with this award than Jesus." She went on to say, "Suck it, Jesus. This is my God now!" referring to the Emmy. As a Christian, I am offended by her hate speech. What do you think might have happened if she had made the hate speech against Muhammad???? Kathy Griffin has the right as an American to say what she thinks. As a Christian-American, so do I. Today I will refuse to watch any show that she may be on or purchase tickets to any event at which she would perform. What will you do? If you delete this, nothing bad will happen to you, but if you pass this on, you will truly have stood up for Jesus Christ. Let's see what the 80% of Christian-Americans can do."

After getting one to many of these emails and being asked to sign a petition over this, here was my response to that email:

" I think its sad that Kathy Griffin said these things too... and was offended also. However, the person composing this email said "if you pass this on you have truly stood up for Jesus Christ." Really?

I'm not defending what Kathy Griffin did... but I do have a question.Why do we expect people who are NOT believers to act like believers?

I personally don't think Jesus would be sending forwards, circulating petitions, etc. to bring Kathy Griffin down. I agree, we should pray for her... but we also need to watch the way we "react" to these things. The world is watching.

If you don't agree, thats fine. This certainly makes for good discussion among all of those involved. Just thought I'd share my heart.

I was trying to recall the Super Bowl Entertainment history tonight with a friend and could not remember anything beyond last year. Well, except for that Janet Jackson boob accident in 2003... but we won't go there.

I remembered a performance by Sting (Love him!). One by Shania (Ok, ok). And, of course, U2 (Wow!). But what year? Then I found the entertainment history chronicled here.

This year Jordan Sparks (American Idol) performs the National Anthem, Ryan Seacrest is scheduled to host the pregame and the half time show features Bon Jovi, Tom Petty, The Eagles and Bruce Springsteen. That's a pretty good line-up. What do you think? Who would you like to have seen?

I had one of the most unique experiences last night. Me and my friends at Churchy Media checked out Forefront, a church plant in Virginia Beach.

While they offer alternate campus locations in Virginia Beach, Forefront's Tuesday night campus meets in a bar. I was VERY impressed with what I experienced through this church last night. The music was very tight, videos well produced and the message by lead pastor Vince Antonucci (on "Intimacy") was a home-run! Probably what made this experience even more unique was participating in the Lord's Supper in the bar. I had a chance to catch up with Vince after the service and I was amazed by his humility. I was literally the 4th person to purchase his new book I Became a Christian and All I Got Was this Lousy T-Shirt and asked him to autograph it. In addition to being a new author, Vince is also one of eight speakers for The WhiteBoard Sessions. Vince, it was a pleasure meeting you and I'm excited to see what the Lord does through Forefront.

Afterwards, we had a late dinner at Kelly's Tavern, just steps away and reminisced about the entire evening.

This morning I was handed a brochure titled "A Book of Deception Not Based on God's Word." Its a brochure all about Rick Warren. I laughed when I read the title.

A few lines from the very first page of the brochure read

"His (Rick Warren) teaching is centered in changing the whole life of local churches. The emphasis is to do away with New Testament standards and to bring in modern thinking that will satisfy present-day Christians. The PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE is so deceptive that the average Christian will support any church, even one that no longer exists to 'Preach the Word'. The most startling fact of his book is that Warren does not teach the Word of God."

What!?

Probably the most interesting (and most hilarious) thing of all was a short insert inside which provided "Signs That Your Church is Following Rick Warren." Check out this list...

Change in music to a contemporary rock style.

Removal of hymn books; eliminating the choir.

Replacement of organ and piano with heavy metal instruments.

Repetitive singing of praise lyrics.

Dressing down to casual and informal attire.

Eliminating of business meetings, church committees, council of elders, board of deacons, etc.

The pastor, or a new leader with a few assistants, usually four, takes church of all church business.

A repetitive 40-day Purpose Drive Church study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community, or the world begins.

This is such interesting news, considering Willow has received more-than-normal attention in the last year with their confession.

I must say, even though I understand that God brings opportunities (for Frazee, Appel) in the midst of change (as with REVEAL), I would probably have an inner-struggle like "uh... God, this is a very interesting, exciting time to see whats next... so lets wait on moving me just yet, k?"

This will bring on further scrutiny as this makes three staff members resignations within a three month period, with Mike Breaux's (whom I think is the bomb-diggity) resignation prior to this.

Even though exciting things have been happening, this has got to be a difficult time for Willow. Pray for Bill Hybels and the rest of the staff as they lead.

Links to more ...Click here to read the letter from the Elders at Willow.Click here to read the REVEAL blog.Click here to hear the message from Bill Hybels titled "The Wake Up Call of My Adult Life." Click here to watch Greg Hawkins from Willow Creek unpack the research and share his heart.Click here to go to my blog on the Willow Creek Confession.

Review of the book:I was incredibly excited when I heard about the book that Tim was writing. As a Minister to Students, I am one of many in the field who has to wrestle with pop culture because of who I am reaching. For many years now I've wrestled with the idea of embracing pop culture because I feared a loss of personal holiness and have been skeptical of the approach period. Through this read I am completely convinced that we MUST leverage pop culture if we want to reach people.

I have been reading the book unChristian simultaneously with this manuscript and let me tell you, it has been INCREDIBLE. Pop Goes The Church is like the antidote for the problems presented in unChristian and, although not a cure-all, many of the problems we are seeing in the church at large today!

Tim Stevens has presented a very well-researched, logical, solid, life-changing manuscript here and it has literally shaken me. I laughed, I cried, I got mad... sometimes at the same time (!) during this read.

This is a book that will be very controversial in its nature because there are many extreme fundamentalists and conservatives who won't budge... but truth be told, they MUST wrestle with this IF they want to reach people.

I have no doubt I will be talking about this book, recommending it to leaders everywhere and purchasing copy after copy for friends for years to come.

Thank you, Tim, for the experience and for helping mentor ME (and JOE!) through this book.

I have a Facebook page that you should join. You can find my page here. Also, I have a Facebook group that you should add yourself too. It's called Youth Pastor Central and is excellent for youth workers but is beneficial to any leaders - primarily because we give such cool resources away!

I'm excited to announce the next topic at Student Ministry Roundtable.com. On Thursday, February 14 youth workers will gather around the table to discuss "Youth Ministry Beyond the National Average."

Considering the average tenure of a youth worker on church staff is around 9 months, it is important that we talk with not only veterans in the field but those who are still in the newlywed stages of their youth ministries. We'll talking on several things including: Youth Ministry within the first two years, moving into deeper relationships with students, shaping a students spiritual life, the goal before graduation and much more!

For this topic I'll be contacting experienced workers to have them weigh in on what helpful insight they would like to share on youth ministry beyond the first 9 months. This should be an INCREDIBLE topic of discussion.If you do not receive an email from me, feel free to email me your thoughts here. Click here to listen to our latest podcast topic (chosen by YOU) on "Ministry to the Broken."

I am what the kiddos would call a "fatty." I own it. I am at the highest weight I've ever been. BUT, thats about to change.

A couple of months ago I thought about rolling out a "Big Loser" type incentive on my blog so that I could lose weight. I thought, "hmm...those reading my blog could keep me accountable." But then decided against it.

Considering my doc told me recently that I am a prime candidate for the Gastric Bypass (which is code for "you are really really fat"), I think I should start doing something about my weight.

Marko, as the youth workers call him, is the president of Youth Specialities and just rolled out a contest called "I'm a Bigger Loser than Marko" on his blog. Over 128 youth workers signed up as soon as he announced it. I really have no excuse (thanks Marko) and this IS the time. Sooo, the contest starts February 4th! And the winner receives FREE registration to the fall National Youth Worker Convention plus lots of books and goodies from YS.

Matthew McNutt, youth worker and former contestant on NBC's the Biggest Loser, will be providing encouragement and assistance to those who enter. The contest will go three months. I'll be blogging about it here and yes, you can keep me accountable.

If you want to sign up, send an email to Youth Specialties. I personally challenge ALL of you!

My heart is heavy for youth workers today who are going through it. A number of them have my attention today and I'm dedicating some time to pray for them.

A veteran youth pastor is having difficulty in his marriage and is struggling to keep his youth ministry thriving while his marriage healthy.

A minister of students had a chance to preach in his church this past Sunday and apparently disrobed (although still leaving shorts and shirt on) in a sermon illustration and has been dismissed from his church because he offended so many older ladies.

Another youth worker made some decisions that has now led him to resign from his role at his church. He has been very candid in his public statements, providing some incredible words for all leaders here and here. His pastor addressed pain in this very moving vid and its clear he has been through it too.

Would you join me in prayer today for those going through it? Pray for your Pastors, Youth Pastors, Leadership team and anyone helping lead congregations and fellowships today.

I'm currently reading the book unChristian by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. This book is so interesting to read because it radically challenges Christians in our world to wrestle with its image problem - and we do have one. I encourage you to check out this vid of a recent interview Gabe Lyons did with CNN in speaking about the book. Then purchase the book, read and let me know your thoughts.

"A man may be doing God's will as much by sweeping streets, as by preaching or praying. So the question means just this, Are we working out our common everyday life on the great lines of God's will?" --Henry Drummond

Thank God I was able to leave South Carolina without any further delays or cancellation. The snow storm coming from Atlanta showed up just before our plane departed from the upstate. As much as the southern states freak out over snow, I thought for sure they'd cancel. Fortunately, they didn't.

The airport there is not so bad. In fact, its better than most smaller airports I've traveled through. It was very cool to run into a friend and former professor, Larry Shackley, in the airport there. Dr. Shackley is actually a former professor of my alma mater, and is now doing some amazing publishing and composing work.

While I was waiting in the airport I looked across the room and saw a guy who I thought I had seen on UFC. He favored one of the ulimate fighters and had two gentlemen on either side of him that I thought may be trainers or agents. I got up the nerve to walk over to him and ask him if he was a cage-fighter. He laughed and said "no." I told him that my question was probably the best compliment he'd ever received. He laughed again and said "yep!"

Once I boarded the plane (again, thankfully it didn't cancel) I thought I was home-free as it relates to weird experiences. HA! Yea, right.

I had a great conversation with a lady on the plane who was seated next to me. She was reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. This book about a woman's year-long experience of soul-searching and self-discovery became quite popular in 2007. Even though I haven't read it, this lady and I had a interesting talk about it.

On the way to Norfolk we began to experience a lot of turbulence. Then suddenly the pilot's voice rang out over the intercom, although none of the passengers could hear or make out what he was saying. I managed to hear him say "blah blah blah blah we're running out of gas blah blah blah." I immediately sat straight up in my seat and began asking each passenger near me if could make out what he said. All of them said "nope" (and gave me looks like they could care less). I soon stopped the flight attendant as he walked by to explain. He said "no, we're not running out of gas. We've got too much gas!" He further explained "we intentionally loaded too much fuel on board in case we had to re-route to Washington D.C. to land because of the weather in Norfolk. Now that we've been cleared for landing in Norfolk we have to burn off the excess fuel at a lower altitude, which is giving us a less comfortable ride." I had the poor guy so nervous that he immediately got on the intercom and began explaining to the entire plane that we weren't running out of gas! (LoL) Good times. What an interesting weekend.

I'm currently retreating in South Carolina for a couple of days. Today was such a weird day... and definitely not one to fly.

Upon arrival to the airport this morning my flight was cancelled. That was a nice surprise. Then came a few crabby airport personnel. Sorry, but why do they have to be so rude? Fortunately I was able to get onto another airline (Thanks US Airways!) But then... the embarassing strip search. Ok, well, not quite... but I did get the pat-down. Flight delay. Flight delay. Flight delay. Yep, we had those too.

Probably the most interesting thing of the day was the Republican Campaign Party in the lobby of the hotel I'm staying at. That was funny. TONS of people all dressed up, eating - drinking - being merry, sporting their favorite candidate's buttons and stickers. Unfortunately, none of the candidates made an appearance.

I ran across some incredible promo stuff from Ed Young's series "I Need 2 Change." They launched a rad website for the series that is packed with powerful testimonies. What great stuff! These guys are SO creative.

I LOVE the National Lampoon's Vacation movies. The 1983 Warner Bros. classic chronicles the trials and tribulations of the Griswold family (featuring Chevy Chase) as they trek cross-country in search of fun and recreation at the mythical WallyWorld theme park. Along the way, they get lost, pick up their cantankerous aunt Edna (Imogene Coca), dispose of her corpse after she passes away in the back seat and narrowly skirt death several times before reaching their destination only to find that the theme park closed for renovations. I thought about this movie today when I read this news of the weird about a family who just traveled over 1,100 miles with their dead grandma in the car.

"After being turned down for over 80 jobs, Andy finally landed a job as a construction worker in the dead of the Montana winter. The brutal job led him to try to find something higher in life, leading him to God. Now, he's studying to be ordained as a minister and thinks of American Gladiators as a chance to spread the word. 'People think that when you are a Christian you have to remove yourself from other worldly venues, like working out and improving your body', as well as being on American Gladiator. But Andy believes it is all a part of worshipping God. He likes to make fun of this dichotomy in his stand up comedy routine."

I received some promotional materials in the office pertaining to the Leadership Rocks event that will be here in our area in February. I couldn't help but notice the striking resemblance that Michael Farren, frontman for Pocket Full of Rocks (who will be leading worship), bears to Ergun Caner, speaker and president of Liberty Theological Seminary. Perhaps its just me... its been a long day. What do you think? Comments welcome.

I appreciated the shout out Collide Magazine gave me from their blog this week. If you haven't checked out Collide you need to. They are doing some incredible work in helping the church move forward in the world of technology. Their blog is definitely something worth reading daily also. I know I do.

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those I may hold today.The best youth ministry content on the web can be found here. We offer the best youth ministry tips, resources, how-tos, videos and more. You can also find small group curriculum too. Terrace Crawford is a nationally recognized, affordable, Christian youth speaker. He is a much-sought-after speaker to teenagers and offers mentoring to youth and to youth workers around the world. You can also find free resources for your youth pastor networks on this site.